Faber Poetry Podcast

Oh what a night. . . In this special episode, recorded live at the London Review Bookshop, Rachael and Jack are joined by Ishion Hutchinson and Oluwaseun Olayiwola, and we have an audio postcard from Charlotte Mew, delivered by the actress Emilia Clarke. Show notesLive guestsISHION HUTCHINSON was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica. He is the author of the poetry collections Far District, winner of the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry, and House of Lords and Commons, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize in Literature, the Whiting Award, and a Donald Windham–Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prize, among other honours. His new collection, School of Instructions, is shortlisted for the 2023 T. S. Eliot Prize. OLUWASEUN OLAYIWOLA is a poet, critic, and choreographer living in London. His poems and criticism have been published in the Guardian, The Poetry Review, Oxford Poetry, the Telegraph, the TLS, and elsewhere. Seun was an inaugural member of the Southbank Poetry Collective. His debut collection, Strange Beach, is forthcoming in the US and UK. He recently began lecturing in the Kingston School of Art.Audio postcards'The Trees are Down' written by Charlotte Mew and read by Emilia Clarke. The poem is included in Charlotte Mew's Selected Poetry and Prose (Faber). About the presentersRACHAEL ALLEN is the author of Kingdomland (Faber) and co-author of numerous artists’ books, including Nights of Poor Sleep (Prototype), Almost One, Say Again! (Slimvolume), Green at an Angle (Kestle Barton) and Material (Loose Joints). She was recently Anthony Burgess Fellow at the University of Manchester, is the poetry editor for Granta Publications, teaches Creative Writing at Queen Mary University, and her second collection of poems, God Complex, is forthcoming from Faber in 2024.JACK UNDERWOOD is a poet, writer and critic. He is author of Happiness (Faber 2015), Solo for Mascha Voice (Test Centre, 2018) and A Year in the New Life (Faber 2021). His debut work of non-fiction, NOT EVEN THIS, was published by Corsair in 2021. He has collaborated widely with composers and artists, and his work has been published internationally and in translation. He is senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College.The Faber Poetry Podcast is produced by Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Hannah Marshall for Faber. This live episode was hosted by the LRB Bookshop. Special thanks to Emilia Clarke, John Clegg, Ishion Hutchinson, Gayle Lazda, Oluwaseun Olayiwola and Claire Williams. All three seasons of the podcast are available to stream on Audioboom, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major podcast listening platforms.

In this episode, Jack and Rachael are joined by award-winning poets Raymond Antrobus and Victoria Adukwei Bulley in the studio, where they consider the multiple meanings of the word 'quiet' and the gifts that make you feel seen. Audio postcards in this episode come from Declan Ryan, Holly Isemonger and Dawn Watson.Show notesStudio guestsRAYMOND ANTROBUS is the author of three poetry titles: To Sweeten Bitter (Out-Spoken Press), The Perseverance (Penned in the Margins) and All The Names Given (Picador), as well as a forthcoming collection to be published by Picador. His work has won the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Ted Hughes Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and his poems have been added to GCSE syllabi. He is also the author of a children’s book, Can Bears Ski? (Walker Books), which became the first story to be broadcast on the BBC entirely in British Sign Language. Antrobus was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020 and appointed an MBE in 2021. His debut work of non-fiction, An Investigation of Missing Sound, will be published by W&N in 2025. VICTORIA ADUKWEI BULLEY is a poet, writer and artist. An alumna of the Barbican Young Poets and recipient of an Eric Gregory award, Victoria has held residencies in the US, Brazil and the V&A Museum in London. Her debut pamphlet, Girl B, was published by the African Poetry Book Fund in 2017. She is the recipient of a Techne scholarship for doctoral research at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her debut collection, Quiet, was published by Faber in 2022. It was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and won the Rathbones Folio Prize for Poetry and the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize.Audio postcards'Mayfly', written and read by Declan Ryan. His debut collection, Crisis Actor, is out now (Faber, 2023).'My Life as an Artist', written and read by Holly Isemonger, from her collection Greatest Hit (Vagabond Press, 2023).An extract from ‘We, Ghost Tigers’, written and read by Dawn Watson, taken from her collection, We Play Here (Granta, 2023).About the presentersRACHAEL ALLEN is the author of Kingdomland (Faber) and co-author of numerous artists’ books, including Nights of Poor Sleep (Prototype), Almost One, Say Again! (Slimvolume), Green at an Angle (Kestle Barton) and Material (Loose Joints). She was recently Anthony Burgess Fellow at the University of Manchester, is the poetry editor for Granta Publications, teaches Creative Writing at Queen Mary University, and her second collection of poems, God Complex, is forthcoming from Faber in 2024.JACK UNDERWOOD is a poet, writer and critic. He is author of Happiness (Faber 2015), Solo for Mascha Voice (Test Centre, 2018) and A Year in the New Life (Faber 2021). His debut work of non-fiction, NOT EVEN THIS, was published by Corsair in 2021. He has collaborated widely with composers and artists, and his work has been published internationally and in translation. He is senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College.The Faber Poetry Podcast is produced by Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Hannah Marshall for Faber. Production and editing by Strathmore Publishing. Special thanks to Raymond Antrobus, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Holly Isemonger, Declan Ryan and Dawn Watson. All three seasons are available to stream on Audioboom, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major podcast listening platforms.

AND we’re back! In the first episode of the third season, Rachael and Jack welcome guests Anthony Anaxagorou and Nick Laird to the studio to discuss poetry writing, tea drinking and the ultimate battle: long poem vs short poem. Audio postcards in this episode come from Courtney Bush, Emily Berry and Anthony Joseph. Show notes Studio guestsANTHONY ANAXAGOROU is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, spoken word artist, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. He has published several collections of poetry and short stories, and, in 2020, he published How to Write It, a practical guide, fusing writing tips and memoir, with Penguin Random House UK imprint #Merky Books. His most recent collection, Heritage Aesthetics (Granta) won the 2023 Ondaatje prize.NICK LAIRD was born in County Tyrone in 1975. A poet, novelist, screenwriter, critic and former lawyer, his awards include the Betty Trask Prize, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and a Guggenheim fellowship. Feel Free (2018) was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot prize and the Derek Walcott award. 'Up Late' the title poem from his latest collection Up Late (2023) won the Forward Prize for Best Poem. He is the Seamus Heaney Professor of Poetry at Queens’ University, Belfast.Audio postcards featured in this episode‘Last Night Kyle’, written and read by Courtney Bush. Her new collection, I Love Information, is published in the UK in October (Milkweed Editions, 2023). Untitled poem, written and read by Emily Berry. Taken from her most recent collection, Unexhausted Time (Faber, 2022).‘A Gap in Language’, written and read by Anthony Joseph. His T. S. Eliot Prize-winning collection Sonnets for Albert is out now (Bloomsbury, 2022).About the presentersRACHAEL ALLEN is the author of Kingdomland (Faber) and co-author of numerous artists’ books, including Nights of Poor Sleep (Prototype), Almost One, Say Again! (Slimvolume), Green at an Angle (Kestle Barton) and Material (Loose Joints). She was recently Anthony Burgess Fellow at the University of Manchester, is the poetry editor for Granta Publications, teaches Creative Writing at Queen Mary University, and her second collection of poems, God Complex, is forthcoming from Faber in 2024. JACK UNDERWOOD is a poet, writer and critic. He is author of Happiness (Faber 2015) Solo for Mascha Voice (Test Centre, 2018) and A Year in the New Life (Faber 2021). His debut work of non-fiction, NOT EVEN THIS, was published by Corsair in 2021. He has collaborated widely with composers and artists, and his work has been published internationally and in translation. He is senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College.The Faber Poetry Podcast is produced by Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Hannah Marshall for Faber. Production and editing by Strathmore Publishing. Special thanks to Anthony Anaxagorou, Emily Berry, Courtney Bush, Anthony Joseph and Nick Laird. All three seasons are available to stream on Audioboom, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major podcast listening platforms.

We can’t believe we’ve come to the end of our second series [sad face]... In this extended final episode, Jack and Rachael have fun chatting with guests Daljit Nagra and Nisha Ramayya in the studio and there are audio postcards from Aria Aber and Jericho Brown, as well as poems from our two presenters.Thank you to all our listeners – we hope you've enjoyed our second series. Remember to rate and review us and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss future episodes of the podcast.Show notes Studio guestsDALJIT NAGRA has published four poetry collections with Faber & Faber, including his most recent, British Museum. He has won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem and Best First Collection, the South Bank Show Decibel Award and the Cholmondeley Award. His books have been nominated for the Costa Prize and twice for the T. S. Eliot Prize, and he has been selected as a New Generation Poet by the Poetry Book Society. He is the inaugural Poet-in-Residence for Radio 4 & 4 Extra, and presents a weekly programme, Poetry Extra, on Radio 4 Extra. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was elected to its Council, and is a trustee of the Arvon Trust. He teaches at Brunel University, London. NISHA RAMAYYA is a poet and lecturer in Creative Writing at Queen Mary University of London. Her book, States of the Body Produced by Love, is published by Ignota (2019). She has published three pamphlets: Notes on Sanskrit (2015) and Correspondences (2016) with Oystercatcher Press, and In Me The Juncture (2019) with Sad Press. Threads, a creative-critical pamphlet co-authored with Sandeep Parmar and Bhanu Kapil, is published by clinic. She is a member of the 'Race & Poetry & Poetics in the UK' research group and the interdisciplinary practice-as-research group Generative Constraints.Audio postcards featured in this episode ‘Reading Rilke in Berlin’, written and read by Aria Aber. The poem is taken from Aria Aber’s new book, Hard Damage (University of Nebraska Press, 2019). ‘Stand’, written and read by Jericho Brown. Jericho Brown’s most recent collection, The Tradition, is out now from Picador and is a 2019 National Book Award for Poetry finalist.About the presentersRACHAEL ALLEN is the poetry editor at Granta, co-editor at the poetry press clinic and of online journal tender. A pamphlet of her poems was published as part of the Faber New Poets scheme, and her first collection, Kingdomland, was published by Faber in January 2019. She is the recipient of an Eric Gregory award and New Writing North’s Andrew Waterhouse award.JACK UNDERWOOD is a poet, who also writes short fiction and non-fiction. A recipient of the Eric Gregory Award in 2007, he published his debut pamphlet in 2009 as part of the Faber New Poets series. His first collection Happiness was published by Faber in 2015 and was winner of the 2016 Somerset Maugham prize. He is a lecturer in creative writing at Goldsmiths College and is currently writing a non-fiction book about poetry and uncertainty. Two pamphlets, Solo for Mascha Voice and Tenuous Rooms were published by Test Centre in 2018.The Faber Poetry Podcast is produced by Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Hannah Marshall for Faber & Faber. Editing by Strathmore Publishing. Special thanks to Aria Aber, Jericho Brown, Daljit Nagra and Nisha Ramayya.

Two acclaimed award-winners join Rachael and Jack in the studio in our fourth episode of the second series: the Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Rae Armantrout and the Scottish poet Don Paterson, twice winner of the T. S Eliot Prize and recipient of all three Forward Poetry Prizes, the Costa Poetry Prize and the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. This episode also features audio postcards from Daljit Nagra, Sylvia Legris and Zeyar Lynn and ko ko thett.See here for the full show notes, author bios and links. Listen to this episode and subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss forthcoming episodes from the new season and (should you be so inclined) please rate and review us so that other poetry-lovers can discover the show. Thank you for listening!

In episode two of the new series, Rachael and Jack are joined in the studio by Mary Jean Chan and Rebecca Tamás to chat about recurring themes and preoccupations in their work – from fencing to the ecological world, the mother to the non-human. Audio postcards this week come from Paige Lewis, Peter Scupham and Matthew Dickman. Show notes, including relevant links, for this episode can be found here.Remember to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss forthcoming episodes and if you like the show please rate and review us. Thank you!

We recently took the Faber Poetry Podcast to The Hague for a special event at the Crossing Border Festival. In this live recording, Rachael Allen and Jack Underwood are joined by fellow poets Anthony Anaxagorou, Momtaza Mehri and Hannah Sullivan for an evening of readings and (brief) discussion.As always you can read the show notes – featuring guest bios and useful links – here.This podcast is produced by Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Hannah Marshall for Faber & Faber. Special thanks to Anthony Anaxagorou, Momtaza Mehri, Hannah Sullivan, Louis and Michel Behre and the team at Crossing Border Festival.

In the penultimate episode of our first series, Rachael and Jack are joined in the studio by Holly Pester and Sam Riviere, plus a pat of butter and a set of nail clippers, which inspire conversations about poetry writing and its relationship to research, archives and procrastination.Audio postcards featured in this episode are:‘Pathetic earthlings’ written and read by Will Harris.‘Sparkhill’ written and read by Zaffar Kunial.‘Nude in the Cat House’ written and read by Monica McClure.For more information, author bios & links see here.The Faber Poetry Podcast is produced by Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Hannah Marshall for Faber & Faber. Editing by Billy Godfrey at Strathmore Publishing. Special thanks to Will Harris, Zaffar Kunial, Monica McClure, Holly Pester and Sam Riviere.Catch up on our previous episodes here or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. If you like our show you can subscribe on iTunes so you don’t miss forthcoming episodes in our first six-part series and please rate and review us, if you feel inclined to do so, we're very grateful for the support of all our listeners – thank you!

In the third episode, Rachael and Jack chat in the studio with Richard Scott and Jane Yeh, discussing, among other things, the importance of recognising gay shame, the difference between biographical honesty and poetic honesty and a shared love for Star Trek (The Next Generation, obviously).Audio postcards this episode come from Peter Gizzi, Emily Toder and Hannah Sullivan.As always the show notes, author bios and links can be found on our website.We can’t believe we’re half way through our first series… If you’ve not heard our first two episodes then you can listen here or on iTunes or your favourite audio platform. If you like the show subscribe now so you don’t miss forthcoming episodes in our first six-part series.The Faber Poetry Podcast is produced by Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Hannah Marshall for Faber & Faber. Edited by Billy Godfrey at Strathmore Publishing. Special thanks to Peter Gizzi, Richard Scott, Hannah Sullivan, Emily Toder and Jane Yeh.

In the first episode, Rachael and Jack discuss talismans, teenage crushes and gateways to poetry with their studio guests Emily Berry and Momtaza Mehri and play audio postcards sent to them by Ocean Vuong, Natalie Shapero and Vahni Capildeo.Here are the episode links and show notes.The Faber Poetry Podcast is produced by Rachael Allen, Jack Underwood and Hannah Marshall for Faber & Faber. Editing by Billy Godfrey at Strathmore Publishing. Special thanks to Emily Berry, Vahni Capildeo, Momtaza Mehri, Natalie Shapero and Ocean Vuong.Listen to this episode and subscribe now so you don’t miss forthcoming episodes in our first six-part series.